


Stay

by Kayzo



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 18:14:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28532733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kayzo/pseuds/Kayzo
Summary: It's nice to know there's always a place you belong.
Relationships: Keith & Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 9





	Stay

Shiro likes his academy apartment. It's a bit on the smaller side (weren’t they all…), but he fills it with things that make him happy—the ‘moon rock’ he got when he was ten from that woman who he totally thought was a witch at the Sunday market, the galaxy projection sphere Matt and his sister Kate made for him last birthday, plants that reminded him of home... All the books and class supplies that every apartment must be filled with, even when instructors _say_ that all the materials will be available digitally. It isn't much, but it's his. It's a nice place to come back to at the end of a long day. A long day like today. 

Sometimes days are just draining, and every Wednesday is that day—he’s got his three hardest classes, and then straight to his TA position. There’s not even time for lunch! Hard classes and hard work isn’t new, but having time with friends to center himself has always been his savings grace. Wednesday may soon prove to be his downfall. 

Shiro fills his kettle and flicks it on. Some tea, a feel good movie, and an early night would set him right. Besides, while Wednesday’s were bad, Thursday’s had first period with Matt, then he TA-ed Irvings class with Keith, then he got to have lunch with both of them. It was the perfect recovery day, he just needed to last until then. 

The kettle starts bubbling and Shiro opens the pantry, looking through the array of teas to see which one speaks to him. He pauses. Was that…? Shiro shuts off the kettle. 

So, someone is knocking. It's soft knocks, it's a wonder he heard it over the water heating. 

“Coming,” he half mumbles, legs feeling heavy. Who would be knocking at his door at… (a quick glance at the clock) half past ten? Half past ten and an hour and a half past curfew. 

Shiro opens the door to see a tuft of black hair and it takes a moment for the shape to transform into a person; “Keith?”

Keith looks up for a quick moment before his eyes go to the left, avoiding Shiro's. He's still in his cadet uniform, arms crossed in front of his chest to ward off something other than the cold. 

Keith opens his mouth before closing it. He bites his lip, limbs tensing in stilted movements.

“Hey Keith,” Shiro softens his voice—Keith always brings that out in him, there’s something about him that Shiro just wants to keep safe—sets a hand on Keith’s shoulder, “wanna come in?”

Sometimes it’s easier to accept than it is to ask, Shiro knows a bit about that too. 

Keith looks up and gives a half nod. It’s enough. Shiro guides him in by the shoulder and sets him at the kitchen bar top. 

“I was just making tea—” he flips the kettle back on, “what are you thinking, classic green or chamomile? There the only ones I have decaf.”

Keith gives a stilted shrug, still stiff where he’s been placed.

Shiro gives him until the water is done boiling, busying himself getting another mug.

“Well? If you don’t answer I’m giving you warm milk.” 

Keith scrunches up his nose; Shiro has never seen someone who dislikes milk so much before he met Keith. Keith licks his lips before opening his mouth, looking Shiro square in the eye for the first time since he knocked on Shiro’s door; “I need a place to stay.”

Shiro blinks. A long blink. He realizes he’s staring when Keith, still maintaining nervous eye contact, squirms uncomfortably in his seat.

Shiro blinks again and turns back to his teas, “Well, sounds like a chamomile kind of night then.” Keith all but sinks into his chair. Shiro tries not to feel offended, it's not a reflection on him but on the system that Keith went into after his father died. Keith doesn't talk about it much, but each tidbit Shiro does know yanks on heartstrings. 

Shiro sets the tea bags in the mugs and pours the water. The steaming mug is set in front of Keith and he immediately wraps his hands around it, leeching it’s warmth.

“Just for tonight.” Keith gets out, taking a quick sip before pulling back almost violently, tongue burned.

“Hey, long as you need, okay?” Shiro blows on his own mug, “we can talk about it more in the morning.”

* * *

Shiro slips on the vest that Keith gives him—and god, _Keith_. He hadn’t thought—he hadn’t thought he’d ever see him again, ever see _Earth_ again. But here he is, on earth, with _Keith_ , putting on some real clothes instead of that damn set of rags he’d warn as a interplanetary prisoner.

“You good?” Keith’s voice comes in through the thin wall; he hasn’t strayed more than five feet from Shiro since getting him out of that garrison cell (he can’t think of that now, how the Garrison sent him up there and then immediately strapped him down and tried to make him their own prisoner when he finally got home, he just can’t), and Shiro honestly doesn’t know how to express how thankful he is for it.

“Yeah.” Shiro opens the door and Keith is right there. He looks Shiro over, something like wonder in his eyes that must match the wonder in Shiro’s because this is real. He sets his hand on Shiro’s shoulder and the warmth of it is a blessing, grounding him. Shiro leans into it, just slightly. Keith is taller now, his voice just a little bit deeper. Shiro feels like he’s been away for ten years, but it couldn’t have been that long (could it? He lost count so early on). 

“I need a place to stay.” Shiro blinks, a little surprised at what just came out of his mouth. Apparently there’s some magical blue lion and he’s concerned about where to stay—not exactly top priority. 

Keith looks thrown for just a moment before he smiles, one of those rare smiles of his that make Shiro stare just a little bit too long; “Hey,” he uses the hand on Shiro’s shoulder to pull him into a hug. Keith did grow, he’s just tall enough to set his chin at Shiro’s shoulder. The heat of him is blazing and Shiro tries to remember the last time he was touched without the threat of violence. Hugging Keith back feels like it's own kind of freedom. 

“As long as you need, okay?” Keith says, and then, muffled into his shoulder, “Stay forever.”

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt fic: ["I need a place to stay"](https://filthysweetie.tumblr.com/post/189710801780/drabble-challenge)
> 
> Originally posted on [my tumblr](http://filthysweetie.tumblr.com/). Thank you for reading!


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